21' iron in a six foot truck bed

I have a ford ranger pickup with a six foot bed. What is the law about carrying long iron that sticks out past the bumper. I know if it is more then two feet it needs a flag. This would be in town, in daylight. Is there some max length which is allowed. of course this would be load strapped so it stays in.
Bill D.

My brother and I used to haul plastic plumbing pipe (20' lengths) on a '62 Valiant. Open the trunk and hood, loop a fanbelt around the hinge, slam the lids, slide the 4'' pipe through the loops and put the 3'', 2'' and 1½'' in the 4''.It hung down along the fenders, so it wasn't sticking out to much.
We did that so we didn't have to drive the big truck for a job 100 miles away.
That gave me the idea to haul steel on my Ranger the same way, but with a 2x2 in the stake pocket to hold the fanbelt.

I made an S-hook that drops in the stake pocket at the back of the bed (it could just go over the edge of the bed.) Material goes on the passenger side supported by the mirror bracket and the S-hook. Tie down well to everything.

I have a ford ranger pickup with a six foot bed. What is the law about carrying long iron that sticks out past the bumper. I know if it is more then two feet it needs a flag. This would be in town, in daylight. Is there some max length which is allowed. of course this would be load strapped so it stays in.
Bill D.

1st DON'T GET CAUGHT BY DOT!!! BIG FINE.
Ok, the best way to haul would be to cut into the lengths you require, then load.
You may have longer than 3 feet behind rear bumper if you have a red flag and/or flashing light (varies by state).
If it was me I would wrap it in a blanket/pad and put it along side the passenger door from front to back so that it does not extend past ether end of truck more than 3 feet.
If you try to put in the bed it will destroy your tailgate. I have seen that happen. You are looking at a 13 foot overhang. The material will not handle that long of overhang.

I had a Nissan Frontier, and I made a support that went into the trailer hitch.
It stuck out about 6 feet from the truck with a top like a saw horse. There were tabs on each end of the "horse". This kept the whatever from sliding of the ends. Lots of tie downs.

Had to haul some similar length metal conduit once. Tied a 2" x 4" across the front bumper, another across the rear bumper so they stuck out about 18" on the passenger side. Tied the conduit to the wood and off I went.

I have hauled a 40 ft ladder on my Ranger PU on several occasions w/o a ladder rack. Rental Yard guy said no way, not possible. But once I explained how it was to be done he was cool with it.

The ladder is 20 ft collapsed, and its very stiff. You didn't say what your steel was. Tube, flat, angle? And how much weight. That fiberglass ladder was probably 100 lbs??

What I did was put a moving blanket on the cab roof. And another on the tailgate.Put the ladder on the blankets and equalized the overhang off of the cab and tailgate. IIRC it was 3 or 4 ft at each end. I used 4 or 5 MC tiedowns and pulled the "very stiff" ladder down to the bed from all 4 corners. The ladder was tight, wasn't going to budge unless I was to roll the truck.

Your sticks of steel probably aren't as stiff as that ladder, and therein is your conundrum. If you can cut it, that's probably best. If its heavier tubing, and they are bundled together, that same approach may work for you.

I had the red plastic on the ladder and no hassles on my round trips to the rental yard.

That's clever! I like that one a lot. I can't tell if the cross bar was the same height as the bed (with the tail gate off). I still would be concerned about the cops.

Lee (the saw guy)

Lee,

The cross bar was about 4" higher than the bed floor. I drove with the tailgate down. The bars stuck out about a foot & a half past the rack. There was enough orange & pink ribbon on the end to make my truck look like a parade float.

K.i.s.s.

From the post I read above from people hauling long length on a PU,what they were hauling was either rigid or light weight.You didn't say what kinda material you are hauling but at 21' you are asking for an accident,your gonna have so much over hang the material is gonna get to bouncing violently,could very easily end up in the road in front of or into another car.I would give the liability some serious thought before hanging that kinda length from a PU.Rental of a trailer is far cheaper and safer than the risk of causing an accident that could get some one killed.

I knew the 21 feet was not going to happen. I was thinking about some 1 1/2 inch water pipe. But no one here seems to have answer about the legal length beyond the bumper.
I did find I was wrong and in most states a red flag is not required until 4' past bumper. lights at night only. I am in California and cannot find this info for the California DMV.
Bill D.
Modesto, CA
101 today, feels cooler

In the California CDL they say any load that extends 120 inches or more from the vehicle needs amber lights at the front of the load and red lights at the rear of the load. There is no limit expressed in the CDL

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